Marissa Henley

Encouraging weary women to hope in Christ alone

Why Sometimes I Don’t Say God is Good {No Matter What Monday}

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Psalm 145-7

I have a love-hate relationship with the phrase “God is good.”

I believe God is good, and I believe it’s important to acknowledge His goodness. But sometimes I hesitate to say, “God is good.”

When something fantastic happens and I respond with “God is so good,” is there an unspoken implication that if it had gone the other way, He wouldn’t be good? Or He wouldn’t be as good? Or He wouldn’t be as good in this situation?

This unspoken implication exists because we don’t typically proclaim God’s goodness when sharing bad news. When was the last time you saw a Facebook status that said, “Devastated by the news I didn’t get the job – God is sooooo good! #Blessed”

I hesitate to say “God is good” when I’m celebrating because I know I might not say it if I was grieving. Confessing God’s goodness isn’t my knee-jerk reaction on bad days. I may be aware of His comfort and peace, but His goodness doesn’t dominate my thoughts about God in those moments. Maybe you feel the same way?

And yet, God is good. All the time. In all circumstances, God deals with His children according to His unwavering goodness and steadfast love. We can proclaim His goodness with our happy news as well as our disappointments. When we suffer, His goodness is just as true. And we need to be reminded of His goodness even more in hardship than in good times.

I want to be like the generations of God’s people described by the psalmist in Psalm 145:7: “They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.”

I’m going on the record right now: God is good all the time. When good things happen, I’ll pour forth the fame of His abundant goodness to me, and simply say, “God is good.”

Because saying “God is good, but let’s all be clear on the fact that He is good even when the bad things happen” . . . well, that’s just awkward.

No matter what you face this week, God is abundantly good to you.

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God Heals Broken Hearts {No Matter What Monday}

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Ps 34-18 (2)

The Great Breakup of January 1991 swept through Woodland Junior High like a social earthquake. One couple after another toppled, and it seemed no one was immune. Even the long-term couples couldn’t withstand its force. When it was over, all that remained of the junior high dating culture was a bunch of brokenhearted adolescent girls, including me.

At the time, most of us who were dumped thought it was the most horrible heartbreak of our lives. But 25 years later that pain pales in comparison to the heartbreak we know as adults. We watch friends endure illness, job loss, divorce, death. We experience pain and loss ourselves. If we’re paying any attention to the world around us, heartbreak is everywhere.

When sadness threatens to crush us, there is a place for us to seek comfort: in the arms of our Heavenly Father. He cares for our broken hearts. He sees our pain and surrounds us with His love and peace. He will never leave us alone with our sadness. We can trust Him to lovingly mend our lives back together when the destruction of grief blasts through.

This truth isn’t a platitude that sounds nice but has no real power. And it isn’t a band-aid that we put on our grief that makes it all feel better. Grief and loss is still painful, even with the Lord. But as we run to Him with our broken hearts, He gently takes our pain, heals our wounds, and gives us the strength to go on. We can face our grief without despair because we belong to the One who heals broken hearts. And we know that one day, there will be no more broken hearts when we are with Him in heaven (Revelation 21:4).

Psalm 34:18: The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.

No matter what you face this week, our Heavenly Father heals broken hearts.

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His Steadfast Love Endures Forever {No Matter What Monday}

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Psalm 100-5

“Would you still love me if I murdered someone?” my son asked recently, and it wasn’t the first time. He loves to push the hypothetical limits and find out whether my love would survive. My answer is always the same: “I love you because you’re my child. Because you’re mine. Nothing will ever change that. You’ll always be my son, so I will always love you.”

I often tell my kids that I don’t love them because they obey or get good grades or treat each other kindly. I love them because they are my children. Because nothing can change their status as my children, nothing can change my love for them. They didn’t earn it, so they can’t lose it.

I desperately want my children to understand this concept so I can explain that God’s love is similar. Except God’s love is even better—it is perfect, and mine is not! I will always love my children, but I don’t always act lovingly toward them. I get impatient. I get angry. I lose my temper. I fail to keep my promises when I get busy, forget, or change my mind.

God loves us perfectly all the time. His love for us is rooted in our status as His children, not on our behavior or accomplishments. We could never earn His love. Christ earned it for us, and He died for us so we could share in His inheritance as children of God. Because we didn’t earn God’s love, we can’t lose it.

His love will never fail you. Nothing you do will ever change or lessen God’s perfect love for you. God’s love is a solid rock to cling to when trials come.

Psalm 100:5: For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

No matter what you face this week, His steadfast love for you endures forever.

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Christ Died for Us {No Matter What Monday}

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Romans 5-8

Most of us will never face the excruciating decision of whether or not we will die to spare someone else’s life. But think with me for a moment: For whom would you die? A family member or close friend? If you were in the unimaginable situation of choosing between your life or your child’s life, would you die for your child? There are loved ones I would die for, but I have to admit, the list for is short.

What if a criminal broke into your home and stole all that you had. He robbed you blind, showing his disdain for you, your family, and your belongings. Then an even nastier criminal found him, dragged him to you, and gave you a choice: your life or his. Would you die for the one who hated you? What if the choice was between the criminal’s life or your child’s life? Would you sacrifice your son or daughter to spare the criminal? I wouldn’t.

But God did.

Romans 5:6-8: For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

While we were yet sinners and enemies of God, Christ died for us. We can confidently trust God’s love for us, because He proved it on a real day in history, when a real man who was also the Son of God bled and died to save us from God’s wrath. The Father did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up so His enemies could become His children (see Romans 8:32).

No matter what we face this week, we can trust God’s love is true, because Christ died for us.

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